290 



Coal consumption for industrial power declined as a factor relative 

 to total industrial power requirements between 1925 and 1954, both 

 because of declining use of coal in direct (steam) power,^ and because 

 of increased efficiency in the generation of electricity from coal. 



Chemical, atomic, or mechanical potential energy can be converted 

 into electrical energy for ease of distribution and use. In 1900 the 

 predominant source of energy thus converted came from the combus- 

 tion of coal, and most of the remainder came from hydro sources. 

 Between 1920 and 1955 the consumption of coal for electric power 

 utilities rose from 32 million tons to 144 million, an increase by 350 

 percent. However, the electrical energy production for these same 2 

 years was 39,405 million kilowatt-hours in 1920 and 547,038 in 1955, 

 an increase by 1,288 percent.^ Coal required per kilowatt-hour of 

 electrical power declined between 1920 and 1955 from 3.05 pounds 

 to 0.95 pounds. In 1920, coal provided 88 percent of all fuel for utility 

 power (exclusive of hydro) while in 1955, it provided only 69 percent. 

 (Hydropower generation in 1920 was 56,599 million kilowatt-hours, 

 and in 1955 it was 116,236 million kilowatt-hours.) The increasing 

 role of electrical utilities as consumers of coal, however, is reflected 

 in the fact that coal consumption by the utilities in 1920 was 31.6 

 million tons (about 5.6 percent of bituminous coal produced) while 

 in 1955 it was 143.7 million tons (about 30.9 percent). In summary, 

 while electric power became the largest single market for bituminous 

 coal, the role of coal in generating electric power was reduced as a 

 percentage of total fuel and hydroenergy thus converted. This latter 

 effect was the consequence of invasion by competing fuels, and an in- 

 crease in the efficiency of the use of coal. 



Whether coal will maintain its 1955 position in the future depends 

 on many factors. For example, in the past 3 years, 1966-68, more 

 than half of all new capacity construction in the electric power indus- 

 try was for atomic power. There is room for considerable increase in 

 efficiency of the conversion of energy from nuclear fission to electricity, 

 and the development of breeder reactors is expected eventually to free 

 atomic power from the constraint of uranium availability. The avail- 

 ability of petroleum and natural gas is another question mark ; how- 

 ever periodic waves of new discovery have more than kept pace with 

 increases in the rate of consumption. A third consideration, air pollu- 

 tion, has constrained the burning of coal for electric power genera- 

 tion in some localities, and threatens to impose further constraints in 

 the future ; here the question is whether the processing of combustion 

 effluent will succeed in reducing the constraint or whether other fuels 

 or energy sources will receive preference on this account. 



Problems and opportunities in coal research 



Coal as a mineral fuel presents certain inherent disadvantages in 

 comparison with liquid or gaseous fuels. The latter can be more conven- 

 iently processed and purified, standardized, blended, transported, and 



s(The categrory "electric motors" as percent of total industrial horsepo'wer in 1925 was 

 73, and In 1954 it was 84. 7 ; however, in 1939 it had been 89.8, suggesting that petroleum 

 rather than coal provided most of the remainder (Ibid.). 



« Series S 36-43, "Consumption of Fuels by Electric Utilities : 1920 to 1957," and Series 

 S 15-26, "Net Production of Electric Energy, bv Central Stations, by Type of Prime Mover; 

 1902 to 1957," in U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census, "mstorical Sta- 

 tistics of the United States. Colonial Times to 1957 ; A Statistical Abstract Supplement." 

 prepared by the Bureau of the Census with the cooperation of the Social Science Research 

 Council (Washington, U.S. Government Printing OfBce, 1960). 



